Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal, French chemist and politician, c 1800s.

Description

Engraving by Ambroise Tardieu after an original painting by Gros. Chaptal (1756-1832) wrote on technical chemistry and made a major contribution to the modern scientific chemical industry, and to the introduction of the metric system of weights and measures. In 1815, during his time as Minister of Interior, under Napoleon I (1769-1821), he supported the concept of increasing the strength of wine by adding sugar before fermentation and this proces became known as 'chaptalisation'.